Dear Physics Community,
Ending the second day of working at home, I’m struck by how different it is and how much I miss being “at work”. I think I accomplish about 25% of what I normally get done, although this is a difficult time – there are many meetings and discussions that need to happen. Of course, I do not have small children at home which presents an even more difficult complication.
I have two major meetings each day: the Academic Continuity meeting 8-9 am and the Physics Response Team from 9-10 am followed by many smaller meetings. These are both exceptional groups of people and they are a big part of the reason I think this will work out.
Top-level things
Important: please read what to do if you think you have been exposed to COVID-19 here. MIT Medical said, “Call first, call first, call first.” This document fleshes this out.
Also important: in the past days, I have learned about this thing called Zoom. We will all use Zoom a lot in the coming months and there is a tutorial webinar on it here. You have to sign up.
The Washington Post has a good graphic about how infections spread and how to minimize them here.
New York Times Op-ed by Presidents of MIT, Harvard, and Stanford.
We are starting some events in the Department. All are open to everyone in the Physics Community over zoom:
- Thursday, March 19, 2020 – Faculty-Staff lunch, “Remote Teaching” led by Iain Stewart and Pablo Jarillo-Herrero
- Thursday, March 26, 2020 – Faculty-Staff lunch, our biophysicists will tell us about viruses, how they are transmitted, and how to limit epidemics
- Thursday, March 26, 2020 – Colloquium – Prof. Scott Gaudi, Ohio State, “The Demographics of Exoplanets”
- Thursday, April 2, 2020 – Colloquium – Prof. Alan Guth, MIT, “Inflation”
Note: as time passes, there will be more events and they may be scheduled at different times. I’ve used the old names and times for them, but they will be open to everyone. I’ll try recording, but no guarantees. Work in progress.
Academic Continuity
The focus continued to shift from undergraduates to broader issues: graduate students, faculty and staff, and research.
Housing – 2,350 graduate students remain on campus. Policies for them will be delivered soon. 290 undergraduates remain, including 58 in fraternities, sororities and independent living groups (FSILGs). The FSILGs must be secured and the student moved onto campus. This is complicated because FSILG’s are independently owned and operated. Dining arrangements continue to evolve and health arrangements are being made.
MIT Health – MIT does not have an infirmary (a place in a large institution for the care of those who are ill) but a clinic (an establishment or hospital department where outpatients are given medical treatment or advice, especially of a specialist nature) which means someone who falls ill and needs to be in a hospital will go somewhere else. MIT Health is being reconfigured for people who are not ill to enter through one door, those who are ill to go in another and there is pharmacy access. Important: if you feel ill, call 617-253-4865, do not go to the clinic.
MIT Health has started COVID-19 testing based on potential exposure, symptoms, or travel. Screening tests have not started.
MIT Health is starting tele-health so non-COVID-19 problems can get some attention remotely. Some information is here.
Research – we have collected scale-down plans from all our labs, as has LNS, MKS, RLE, and others. These plans are being reviewed by the Deans of Science, Engineering, and Architecture. I think we will hear tomorrow what their outcome is. Our plans were well below guidance for campus presence. Buildings will be categorized based on these plans as to what services and security level will continue.
Physics Department
The Divisions are closest to our students, post-docs, and faculty and staff are, in various forms
- reaching out to postdocs to see where they are
- starting zoom lunch talks, journal clubs, etc.
- developing plans for graduate oral exams. The Department plans to have consistent guidance for oral exams early next week
- making plans for Graduate Open House presentations
Cathy and her team in the APO are making the overall Open House schedule and checking in with our admitted graduate students. Alan Guth will give the Open House colloquium on Inflation, which will be a high point.
Remote Instruction is the next big topic being tackled and we will discuss it at lunch on Thursday. All our instructors are converting their materials and presentations to online, Junior Lab is developing a way of operating online and many are considering the problems of giving invigilated (a word I learned from Will Detmolt) exams remotely. Some other instruction related thing to start thinking about:
- the need to core materials accessible to those with only and phone and low band-width access. This may be needed if there is so much going on the internet that connections are slow
- Student interaction with S^3 via remote counselors
- Backup plans if instructors fall ill
- How to arrange tutoring for our classes. I suspect more than usual will be needed
- How to structure redundant course staffing
I think as we start going online, we will need to make rapid assessments of how well things are working and adjust. We’re going to learn a lot.
There is more to this than changing the way we work – our social lives are…gone? Maybe not – I just got this link from Carol Breen (thanks Carol!) that has some good ideas.
Peter